Congress picks away at bailout; timetable open

WASHINGTON — Democrats won a key concession from the White House on legislation to bail out the financial industry on Wednesday, then sought to scale back the $700 billion price tag.

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and DAVID ESPO

WASHINGTON — Democrats won a key concession from the White House on legislation to bail out the financial industry on Wednesday, then sought to scale back the $700 billion price tag.

With the administration's original proposal deeply unpopular in Congress, top House leaders issued an upbeat statement at day's end saying that they had made progress toward revised legislation.

"We are committed to continuing to work cooperatively and on a bipartisan basis to safeguard the interests of the American taxpayers," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio.

But they offered no timetable on a bailout that the administration said was needed more with each passing day.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spent most of the day in the Capitol, shuttling between public hearings on the proposal and private meetings with lawmakers.

In their statement, Pelosi and Boehner said, "We agree that key changes should be made to the administration's initial proposal. It must include basic good-government principles, including rigorous and independent oversight, strong executive compensation standards and protections for taxpayers."

Earlier, Paulson agreed to demands from critics in both parties to limit the pay packages of Wall Street executives whose companies would benefit from the proposed bailout.

"The American people are angry about executive compensation and rightfully so," Paulson told the House Financial Services Committee. "We must find a way to address this in the legislation without undermining the effectiveness of the program."

The issue has been a much-debated point in the struggle to win congressional approval of the historic rescue of the financial industry, though the "golden parachute" money involved would be relatively insignificant compared with the huge sums being talked about.

At the same time, Democrats were asking the Bush administration to dramatically cut the size of the rescue and then come back to Congress later if they need more.

Under that plan, which was still emerging, Congress would approve a fraction of what Bush is asking for — perhaps $150 billion or $200 billion — to allow the government to begin rescuing tottering financial companies.

Pelosi has privately suggested the idea to Paulson, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations are private.

But some Republicans said they support it as well. "It's highly appropriate for them to come back to us once they see and we see how this is working," said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said Wednesday, "Ultimately $700 billion has to be available but ... they are making progress about how to give people some assurance that it is not going to go to $700 billion in one fell swoop."

Frank, who as chairman of the Financial Services Committee has taken a lead in the negotiations, said Paulson also "accepts the fact" that the bill will give the government an ownership stake in the companies whose bad debts are taken over, a Democratic goal.

The heart of the unprecedented plan, dramatically unveiled less than a week ago, involves the government buying up sour assets of tottering financial firms to keep them from going under and to stave off a potentially severe recession and the accompanying lost jobs and further home foreclosures.

Wall Street, down sharply the previous two days, basically marked time, waiting for the next shoe to drop. The Dow Jones industrials declined 29 points.

Lawmakers in both parties have strenuously objected to the plan over the past two days, Republicans complaining about federal intervention in private business and Democrats pressing to tack on help for beleaguered homeowners.

Many Republicans and Democrats appear to be more open to legislation, although on different terms than the White House has proposed.

"There's politically a lot of pessimism because the American people are pushing back," said Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the senior Financial Services Committee Republican. But, he added, "There's a realization that we have to do something, and that we can't leave town until we do."